Spartium

Shrubs or trees, unarmed. Stems evergreen, erect, rushlike, glabrous. Leaves alternate to subopposite, unifoliolate or obsolescent; stipules present; petiolate; blade margins entire, surfaces appressed-hairy abaxially, glabrous adaxially. Inflorescences 5–20-flowered, terminal, racemes; bracts and bracteoles present. Flowers papilionaceous, showy, pedicellate; calyx campanulate, lobes 5; corolla yellow; stamens 10, monadelphous; anthers dimorphic, 9 basifixed, 1 dorsifixed; style incurved, indument dense, silky proximally. Fruits legumes, sessile, flattened, linear-oblong, dehiscent, sericeous or glabrous. Seeds 6–18, transversely oblong. x = 12.

Distribution

Introduced; s Europe, sw Asia, nw Africa, introduced also in South America, Pacific Islands (Hawaii), Australia.

Discussion

Species 1.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Spartium junceum